Interview 01: Quanie Mitchell

Greetings humans, half-breeds, and everything in between. Yesterday I had the pleasure to interview my new friend, Quanie Mitchell. A good time was truly had be all, and here’s how it went down.

Hi there Quanie. It’s so awesome to have you here at the ECS Universe. Don’t worry about the darkness, you’re eyes will adjust.

 So tell me who is Quanie Mitchell?

I’m a writer, blogger, and soon to be wife. I’m from Louisiana and often find different variations of my family (and my hometown!) appearing in my work. I love reality television shows, don’t read as much as I should, and I don’t really like my vegetables.

I’m a pretty big fan of Louisiana myself. That’s where my dad is from. Congratulations on the soon to be nuptials. As much as you don’t like’em, I hope your still eating them. Veggies are important.

So whacha got for me today?

Well, my current WIP is a piece of speculative fiction, tentatively titled The New Mrs. Collins. Here’s the one liner: When a jilted woman discovers that her ex’s new wife is hiding something, she goes digging for the truth and discovers that some secrets are better left buried.

Buried secrets get you every time. This story sounds juicy.

 So who’s staring is this 2 dimensional script read of The New Mrs. Collins?

My main character’s name is Leena Williams. She works at Sweet Time, the bakery that she owns. She’s the proud mother of a six year old rascal named Corie and loves spending time gossiping with her mother and sister about the goings on of Carolville, Louisiana. Oh; and she’s also just about to get married.

Already I can see a few parallels between you and Leena. I know what that’s like. Sometimes you just can’t avoid putting a little bit of yourself into your characters. I can’t wait to learn more about the story, but for now, I want to know more about you.

Past, present, future, is there a rhyme or reason to your writing?

When I’m writing and really in the zone, I am sitting at my computer with a cup of bamboo leaf green tea.

Tea sounds good right about now, but I digress. Let’s keep going.

What author(s) has most influenced your writing? Why or how?

For my current work, I would honestly have to say R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike. I read so much speculative fiction as I child, not even realizing that those themes were slowly trickling into my own writing!

I hear that. So much of what we read, saw, heard, experienced in our youth has influenced in current daily lives. As writers, I think those early impressions are sometimes more relevant than our current influences.

 Who’s brain are you just itching to scratch?

I would have to say Octavia Bulter. I would ask her how she came up with the idea for Kindred and the issues she faced while writing it.

That’s a good one. That’s one of those stories that I hate to admit that I haven’t read, but have heard of. I too wonder how she came up with this tragically emotional tale of time travel and made it so politically and socially relevant.  It’s weird in a great way.

What’s your ideal reading spot for your next highly anticipated read?

Well, I'm reading Elsewhere, California by Dana Johnson. I'm excited to read it because she's super talented and I had the pleasure of meeting her at Squaw Valley Writers Workshop this past July. My ideal reading spot is my comfy living room sofa!

Isn’t it so cool when you get to meet the people whose work you admire. I’ve haven’t meet anyone like that yet, but I’m sure it will be a great experience when I do.

What was your favorite book or story, pre teen years?

Amazon

The Last Vampire by Christopher Pike.

I expected you to answer with something from Pick…Now this where the questions get a little kooky; are you ready?

Yes indeed, baby!

Alright then, here we go.

If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?

IMDB

The rest of my life? Hmmmm…I guess I would have to say Brown Sugar. 

Good choice. That’s a funny movie, but very true to relationships; and if  you like Hip-Hop, that’s just icing on the cake.

What makes you geek out?

Something that makes me geek out? The Girl with the Dragoon Tattoo (the movie, US, Sweden ); I thought the movie really did the book justice and I couldn’t shut up about the movie for days.

That’s an intense story. I can see wanting, maybe even needing, to talk about it afterwards. I never read the book and only watched the (Swedish) movie when I was able to have someone tell where all the graphic scenes were so I could skip them. It’s a good story.  

When the soundtrack of your life is playing in your head, what songs express your glee and what songs bring out your rage?

Amazon

Not sure about the glee and rage, but I know just what songs would appear on my sound track: Jill Scott’s first and third albums (in totality!) Janelle Monae’s Oh Maker, Come Alive, and Violet Stars Happy Hunting, and Beyonce’s I am World Tour Album.

That would make for a very soulful life and movie.

What’s the most fun experience you’ve ever had?

The most fun? Hmmm…meeting my fiancé for the first time, the summer before I moved to California that I spent mostly with my mom and my nephew, my brother’s wedding, and going to Charleston to visit my fiancé’s family.

I can see that family time equals fun with you; I’m the same way. I bet you’re hearing wedding bells everywhere you go right now. I’m so excited for you.

 Remind me again how I was lucky enough to meet you?

I met (you) Toi Thomas through Linkedin! It’s a group called Black Authors Network.

Not that you can see into the future, but in your opinion, what does the future hold?

Okay, so, knock on wood; in five years I hope to have a very commercially successful novel on the market with two or three other books in the works. I also hope to be making a full time living as a writer and working from home while taking care of my (now unborn) child(ren).

Ok, humans, half-breeds, and everything in between, that’s all for today. For more from Quanie Mitchell, check out this great link: quanietalkswriting.com